The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of that office in the nation's history. While numerous vice-presidents were confined to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney held substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, making him become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced then and I hold that view today."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memorandum detailing scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House somewhat determined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were both insubstantial or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his lair? That is a effective way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty